1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable computer, in particular to a portable computer using a fuel cell which can be refueled anytime, thereby efficiently supplying power to the portable computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a portable computer is designed to be supplied power by using an AC/DC (Alternating Current/Direct Current) adapter, or a portable battery such as a chemical cell, I for example, a lithium-ion cell.
The chemical cell uses electrical energy generated from a chemical reaction with an electrode. However, to reuse the chemical cell, the cell has to be recharged with AC power once the chemical reaction is complete.
As described above, the portable battery has a limited amount of supply power. Thus, by limiting the amount of power supplied to the CPU, it is possible to increase use time. Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to set a power-consuming mode in the CPU (Central Processing Unit) to a low-power mode.
That is, a portable computer generally designed to be supplied power from an AC power source and/or the portable battery can be supplied a constant amount of power from the AC power source, therefore the CPU and the peripheral device of the portable computer can receive a high voltage for a maximum performance. This condition is configured as a high performance mode.
Contrary to the above-described aspect, the portable battery supplies the portable computer with a limited amount of power, therefore low power is supplied to the CPU and the peripheral device reducing the number of performances to be used in the low power mode. This condition is configured as a low power-consuming mode.
As described above, operating the portable computer by controlling the power supplied to the CPU and the peripheral device based on the power source can increase the use time of the portable battery having a limited amount of power supply.
Other aspects of increasing the use time of the portable battery can be obtained by setting the CPU to a low power-consuming mode, thus saving the power of the portable battery, or by increasing a capacity of a conventional portable battery.
Meanwhile, unlike conventional chemical cells generating the electrical energy by inserting the reactant therein in advance, a fuel cell of the present invention is designed to continuously supply the reactant from outside of the chemical cell, and continuously remove a reaction product to the outside.
FIG. 1 is a control block diagram of a portable computer comprising a fuel cell according to the conventional technology. As shown therein, the conventional portable computer comprises a fuel cell 7 as a power source; a power supplier 5 supplying power received from the fuel cell 7 to a controller 3 and a peripheral device 9; the controller 3 controls the power supplier 5 to supply a standard amount of power by supplying voltage information when the power supplier 5 supplies power to the controller 3 and the peripheral device 9.
The fuel cell 7 generates electrical energy by creating a chemical reaction in a chemical reaction part 7b using hydrogen or methanol in a fuel cartridge 7a and oxygen in the air.
The electrical energy is transferred to the power supplier 5, and a microcomputer 31 senses that the fuel cell 7 is supplying the power and signals a chipset 33, the chipset 33 notifies processor 35 that the fuel cell is supplying the power through a pre-defined control signal or a system bus. Thereafter, the chipset 33 and the processor 35 supply a predetermined standard voltage information to the CPU and the peripheral device, and the power supplier 5 receives the standard voltage information and regulates the power to have a comparatively low voltage and supplies power to the CPU and the peripheral device.
Herein, the fuel cell 7 can be fueled by the fuel cartridge 7a provided therein, but can be designed to be fueled by a comparatively bigger external fuel tank.
The portable computer comprising the fuel cell, which can be fueled by the external fuel tank, may require a power management similar to a system using a conventional chemical cell.